Prompt 25: Adventures in Babysitting
by FYeahAlexJo
Summary: Fic request: Alex and Jo babysit Zola and Bailey.


Alex quietly slipped into the Grey/Shepherd house, exhausted from a long day. He glanced over to see Jo sitting in the floor asleep, her legs crossed over each other with her neck craning at an awkward angle over the seat of couch, her mouth hanging open in deep sleep as Bailey snoozed on her chest. He grinned at Zola, who was looking up at him, her head resting on Jo's thigh. "Hey Zo, why aren't you asleep?"

Zola pointed over to the TV and Alex looked over to see what he knew from the peds ward to be the movie "Frozen" playing on the large screen television. He shook his head in amusement, "Well now it's time for bed."

He gently picked her up and carried the sleepy child to her bedroom and tucked her into the bed. Alex smiled as she rolled over and buried her head into the pillow. He turned on the nightlight and placed a stuffed animal beside her. He then paused at the doorway after turning off the light and thought about the first day he met the young girl and how far she has come. He shook his head and walked back to the couch to look at Jo and Bailey sleeping peacefully. He decided he needed to save Jo from a stiff neck later and sat down beside her to nudge her shoulder, "Jo?"

She woke with a start and looked at him with wide eyes before looking around frantically, "What, what is it? Where's Zola?"

He grinned and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, "She's asleep. I put her in her bed."

She leaned her head on to his shoulder and sighed, "Thank goodness."

Alex narrowed his eyes, "I thought you wanted to do this?"

Jo raised up to look at him and shifted Bailey on her shoulder, "I didn't do it for the fun of it. I wanted to be nice, I wanted your friend to like me, and I wanted to see what it would be like."

Alex gazed at her wordlessly, digesting what she had said, "What?"

"We've been together almost two years Alex, and I don't know your friends and they don't know me. I don't think Grey even likes me but you are her go-to person. We should at least be able to tolerate each other, right?"

Alex smirked, "I kinda like you. Isn't that enough?"

She looked up at him with a grin, "Yeah, I guess so. I mean it's just gonna be the two of us together, right? Without anyone else?"

Alex saw the spark of sarcasm in her eyes, "Yeah okay. You made your point."

Jo rolled her eyes, "I don't want to be a nag, but if she's gonna be around all the time and if I'm gonna be sharing a bed with her, I at least want her to like me. Even if it's just enough that she doesn't look at me like I'm crap on the bottom of her shoe…"

"She doesn't…"

Jo's eyes blazed, "She so does." She rubbed Bailey's back and placed a soft kiss on his hair, her eyes full of contemplation, "But it's not just that. I…I was curious."

Alex furrowed his brows, "Curious?"

Jo shrugged, "I wanted to see if I could do this."

Alex nodded, "Babysit two kids?"

Jo nodded, "Yeah. I'm not exactly mom material. Even Grey can see that. I kinda wanted to prove her and myself wrong."

Alex's eyes widened as his thumb stroked her upper arm, "Like Mer was mom material when she and Shepherd first got Zola. And who cares what she thinks anyway? You're good with kids."

Jo tilted her head and gave an exasperated look, "I don't think Zola even likes me. They're up past bedtime, I couldn't say no, I…"

"So you're the cool aunt. Nothing wrong with that. And Zola likes you, trust me."

Bailey began to get restless so Alex stood and took him from Jo, bouncing the tired child as he walked to the nursery. She jumped up to follow and took Bailey back, walking over to the changing table to give him a fresh diaper. "No, I'm the hoodlum aunt that's not allowed to be left alone with the kids." She looked up at him challengingly, "Isn't that right?"

Alex stared at her wide-eyed, "How did you know about that?"

Jo rolled her eyes as she changed Bailey into his sleep clothes, "The hospital has ears. You haven't learned that yet?"

Alex gave a helpless look, "She came around."

Jo gave a side look, "Only because no one else would do it and she wanted Valentine's Day sex with her husband."

Alex rubbed her shoulders from behind, "Look, Mer doesn't always have the best first impression of people. She hated me at first and thought I was the biggest ass she'd ever met and now she comes to me in the middle of the night with her problems. She will love you once she gets to know you."

Jo smiled slightly as she turned around with Bailey in her arms, "If you say so."

Alex gave a lopsided grin, "And for what it's worth, I know when the time comes you'll be an amazing mother." He gave a sincere look that made her cheeks flush slightly before he sniffed dramatically, "You already kinda smell like one."

Jo smacked him on the chest, "Bailey drools a lot." She looked down at her shirt, "It's all over me. Plus I had a mishap with applesauce earlier; it's probably still in my hair."

Alex gave her a once over and said genuinely, "It's a nice look on you."

Jo looked up in surprise, but before she could respond she turned to the sound of Zola stepping into the room. The small girl was rubbing her eyes and asked quietly, "Aunt Jo, can you read me a bedtime story?"

Alex smiled smugly at Jo's shell-shocked look and took Bailey from her, "See? I told you you were good at this."

As Zola lead Jo by the hand back to her bedroom, Alex sat in the rocking chair to rock Bailey to sleep, all the while daydreaming of when he and Jo would be busy every night with their own children.


End file.
